Mahan supports yet another big, flawed tax proposal
The failures of RM4 and Prop 5 notwithstanding, SJ Mayor Mahan voted (as a member of VTA board) to opt into Senate Bill 63, which aims to raise local taxes to help bail out our obsolete and spectacularly wasteful county transit system--especially when compared to emerging alternatives. SHIFT-Bay Area on Substack explains.
Senate Bill 63 is winding its way through the legislature. It would add more taxes in the Bay Area to try and keep legacy transit afloat without requiring legacy transit to make any hard decisions to make itself more financially sustainable.
Traditional transit is a sinking ship for good reasons that are not solved by this tax increase. Instead, what should be pushed for are efficiencies in the current bloated bureaucracies and a transition to the emerging agile and affordable transit alternatives, including mini-busses, ride-sharing, and autonomous electric vehicles.
The Real Fiscal Issue: Inefficiency
What has not been presented by staff reports to local agency boards is the full context of Traditional Transit cost (in)efficiency in the Bay Area. A review of the 6/30/2024 financial performance of 8 major Bay Area Transit Agencies shows that they are massively inefficient compared to emerging alternatives. On average, Bay Area Transit services are 6 times more expensive than an EV, and do not deliver door to door service.
Even more striking is the massive inefficiency in capital asset utilization. The total fiscal burden per passenger mile, including capital assets requiring replenishment, unfunded retirement benefits, and outstanding long-term debt is staggering in comparison to a cheap EV (like my Chevy Bolt). These costs would be even worse if bond funding is required, because a 30-year bond at today’s rates approximately doubles the cost of each asset financed. Even without considering the cost of financing, Bay Area Traditional Transit ties up over 16 times as much money in funds as a cheap EV.
Read the whole thing here.
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